2 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

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2 2 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

3 Contents Foreword 5 Executive Summary 7 1. Introduction What is end of life care? Why is end of life care important for prisoners? 9 2. Policy overview General policies on end of life care in England and Wales Prison specific policies about end of life care and prison responsibilities Age and end of life care: now and what the future holds End of life care in PPO investigations Introduction Demographic make up of the sample Primary cause of death Type of establishment Location of deaths Themes Palliative care plans Restraints Early release Family involvement Lessons to be learned Concluding remarks and moving forward 27 References 28 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 3

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5 Foreword I am pleased to introduce this thematic report describing learning from my independent investigations into deaths of prisoners in custody due to a terminal or incurable disease. The report reviews end of life care for these prisoners by looking at the 214 such deaths which were investigated by my office between 2007 and With an increasingly ageing prison population, the care for those at the end of their life is a growing responsibility for the Prison Service. Prisoners of all ages can suffer serious health problems, but it is older prisoners who are most likely to require end of life care. Remarkably, as more prisoners serve longer sentences and more are sentenced later in life, those aged 60 and over have become the fastest growing segment of the prison population with the number imprisoned increasing by 142 per cent in the last ten years. So prisons face the prospect of having to care for ever increasing numbers of prisoners dying in places originally designed for younger men. sample of foreseeable deaths had no palliative care plan, support for families was variable and greater efforts could have been made to obtain temporary or compassionate release to allow prisoners to die with dignity in the community. Above all, as I have reported numerous times, prisons need to achieve a better balance between care and security in the use of restraints on the terminally ill. While a prison s first duty is to protect the public, too often restraints are used in a disproportionate, inappropriate and sometimes inhumane way. I would like to thank my colleague, Ms Sarah Colover, for preparing this report. It is part of a series reflecting my commitment to publish regular reports and bulletins setting out the lessons from my investigations which, if learned, could help ensure custody is a safer, fairer and more effective place. Of course, society as a whole is ageing and care for the elderly and infirm is an increasing priority for the National Health Service, but there are particular challenges in providing this care in prison. It is therefore commendable that this report finds that prisons are making headway in providing adequate end of life care and geriatric facilities. Thus, in 85 per cent of cases, my investigators and the clinicians with whom they work, judged the care received by the deceased to be equivalent to that which might have been expected in the community. Nigel Newcomen CBE Prisons and Probation Ombudsman However, care is not universally good. For example, over a quarter of prisoners in the Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 5

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7 Executive summary This report presents a review of 214 Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) fatal incident investigations into foreseeable natural cause deaths in custody. These deaths were due to terminal or incurable diseases in prisons in England and Wales between January 2007 and October The review of end of life care in the 214 investigations is placed in the wider context of an ageing prison population. The national and local responses to the changing prison demographic are considered. The average age at death was 61 years old. Fifty eight per cent of these deaths were of prisoners aged 60 years and over (123 of 214). The majority of prisoners (85%) in the sample received care which was judged by investigators and their clinical counterparts to be equivalent to that they could have expected to receive in the community. However, the level of end of life care provided to prisoners varied between prisons. Over a quarter (29%) of prisoners in the sample did not have a palliative care plan in place to support them and their families with their terminal illness. Eight fatal incident investigations are summarised as case studies, with learning highlighted. The cases address the following themes: Palliative care plans The use of restraints Compassionate release and release on temporary licence Family involvement The learning identified is categorised into four groups: The importance of implementing an end of life care plan from the point of terminal diagnosis to support for the family after death. The need for prisons to place sufficient weight on a prisoner s current health and mobility when assessing the risk they pose to justify any use of restraints. The concordat between the Prison Service and NHS should be followed by every prison to assess the level of restraint required Where appropriate, applications for early release on compassionate grounds should be completed at the earliest possible opportunity. The need for families to be involved, where appropriate, in the care planning and how prisons can facilitate and support this. Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 7

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9 1. Introduction With a large and ageing prison population, the Prison Service has to deal with more foreseeable deaths from terminal and incurable illnesses than ever before. This brings new challenges for both prison regimes and prison facilities to accommodate the end of life care needs for those prisoners who require them. This report looks at how the Prison Service is responding to these challenges and is focused on a sample of 214 prisoners who died from a terminal illness in prison between January 2007 and October What is end of life care? End of life care can be defined as care that helps those with an advanced, progressive, incurable illness to live as well as possible until they die. End of life care is about the total care of a person with an advanced incurable illness and does not just equate with dying. The end of life care phase may last for weeks, months or years. There are a number of terms used when describing care that people may need as they approach the end of life, and they are often used synonymously. 1.2 Why is end of life care important for prisoners? Prisoners are entitled to an equivalent level of healthcare in prison as they could have expected to receive in the community 1. This includes care for a terminal illness or incurable disease. An end of life care pathway is viewed as the best way to deal with the last stages of life and so should be equally offered to those in prison as it is to those in the community. With a prison population which is ageing and also has many individuals with health deficits, the provision of end of life care has become increasingly important as more prisoners die of old age and incurable and terminal diseases. Because of this, some charities have increasingly been working with the Prison Service and in partnership with the NHS Offender Health Division to provide specialist services to prisoners with terminal illnesses. A recent example of partnership working is a guide 2 for prisoners diagnosed with terminal cancer that Macmillan Cancer Support has published. The booklet provides practical advice and outlines what is likely to happen, how prisoners may feel and what support they may need. Palliative care is the total care of patients whose disease is unresponsive to active medical treatment. Control of pain and other symptoms and support to manage psychological, social and other problems are paramount. The goal of palliative care is to provide the best quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative care comes into the picture when the person s condition deteriorates and active treatment does not control the disease. Here, progressive deterioration and death is anticipated and the emphasis of care moves from active treatment of the disease to treatment to give comfort and control symptoms such as pain. End of life care enables the palliative care needs of the patient and the support needs of the family to be identified and met throughout the last phase of life and into bereavement. It includes the management of pain and other symptoms and the provision of psychological, social, spiritual and practical support. Older prisoners (aged 60 and above) have more major illnesses than younger prisoners and those of a similar age in the community 3. Most prison buildings and facilities were not designed with an elderly population in mind. This can mean that those who are less mobile and in poorer health have difficulty accessing services or taking part in meaningful activity in order to lead a purposeful active life in prison. The architecture also sometimes poses problems for delivering end of life care to terminally ill prisoners. It is therefore a challenge for the Prison Service to meet the needs of this group. In order to overcome these challenges, a number of prisons have built palliative care cells or units to accommodate the palliative care needs of prisoners requiring specialist end of life care. Other prisons have developed links with local hospices to enable prisoners to receive treatment outside the prison. Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 9

10 2. Policy overview 2.1 General policies on end of life care in England and Wales 2.2 Prison specific policies on end of life care and prison responsibilities Two main pathways existed before the national end of life care programme was established. These were, the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient 4 and the Gold Standards Framework 5. In response to recent publicity about the way the Liverpool Care Pathway has been used and accusations about the care of end of life patients, an independent review 6 has been set up to look at how the Liverpool Care Pathway is being delivered in practice. The Liverpool Care Pathway is still internationally recognised as best practice and the Department of Health continue to recommend its use in their End of Life Care Strategy. The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed during the late 1990s at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, in conjunction with the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute. It was intended to provide the best quality of care possible for dying patients in the last days and hours of life, whether they were in hospital, at home, in a care home or in a hospice. It was widely seen as a way of transferring the model of excellence in the care provided in hospices to other healthcare settings such as hospitals and care homes. The Gold Standards Framework was developed in 2000 as a grass roots initative to improve palliative care from within primary care. The main goal of the programme is to enable more people to die where they choose (usually at home or in a care home) to reduce the number of inappropriate admissions to acute hospital wards and to provide a best practice of care for those at the end of their life. The National End of Life Care Programme was set up in 2004 with the intention of ensuring good quality end of life care for all adult patients, irrespective of diagnosis or care setting. In 2008, the first National End of Life Care strategy 7 was published outlining a 10 year strategy for improving care at the end of life. The document highlights, as the National End of Life Care Programme did, the need for high quality end of life care to be provided in all care settings, including prisons. The transfer of responsibility for the provision of healthcare from the Prison Service to the National Health Service (NHS) was arguably a defining moment in the Prison Service s history. The transition began in 2003 and, in 2006, prisoner healthcare became the sole responsibility of the NHS with the majority of prison healthcare commissioned by Primary Care Trusts. Most commentators agree that a step change improvement was subsequently achieved by this transition 8. Delivery models differ and a small number of privately run prisons are still responsible for commissioning their own healthcare as a condition of their contract. There are also a number of public prisons who outsource their healthcare provision to private healthcare providers and staff are employed by the healthcare contractor. However, both public and private healthcare suppliers are subject to the same rules and regulations in regards to their healthcare provision in prisons. Prison Service Order (PSO) covers clinical governance and the quality of prison healthcare. It does not explicitly refer to palliative care, but does state that governors should ensure that healthcare is dedicated to improving the quality of clinical care and strategies for identifying and reducing risk. PSO 3100 is delivered in parallel with the Health Services for Prisoners standard 10. The standard requires establishments to develop needs based health services, which effectively deliver evidence based care to both the individual prisoner, and the prison population as a whole. If a needs-based approach is followed, prisoners who require end of life care would be identified and their individual needs provided for. In 2007, the Department of Health issued guidance 11 on care for older prisoners which references the importance of end of life care in the face of an ageing prison population. In 2011, the National End of Life Care Programme created a guide 12 for delivering end of life care in prisons. This guide provides practical advice for implementing high quality, end of life care by improving the quality of care offered and enhancing the dignity and choice for prisoners approaching the end of their life. The guide sets 10 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

11 out the six point end of life care pathway (Figure 1). The programme promotes the use of the Liverpool Care Pathway and the Gold Standards Framework as end of life care tools designed to increase choice, improve standards of care and facilitate communication between professionals, prisoners and their families. There is currently a project underway to create a workbook of best practice for delivering the Gold Standards Framework in prison. The Preferred Priorities for Care 13 should also be available to all prisoners, and is a document which can help prisoners to record their wishes and choices for the care they would like to receive. Prison Service Instruction 64/ was issued in February It contains a number of chapters which refer to end of life care issues such as family liaison and advance directives, as well as a specific chapter on the 'Management of prisoners who are terminally or seriously ill'. From April 2013, responsibility for end of life care services in prisons in England will fall to the NHS Commissioning Board, which will assume responsibility for commissioning public health services for people in prison in England. To facilitate this, the Department of Health has ring fenced funding for the NHS Commissioning Board to commission certain public health services. The ageing population both in the community and in prisons has brought the provision of social care to the fore recently, and led the Government to produce the White Paper: Caring for our future: reforming care and support. The White Paper outlines the framework for social care delivery in the community, as well as recognising social care needs in a prison setting. This is the first time that it has been explicitly stated and recognised by the Government that the social care needs of prisoners have, in the past, been neglected due to the lack of clarity about where responsibility lies. This is supported by Her Majesty s Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMIP) 2012 annual report 15 which reported that few prisons had developed health services for dealing with the social care needs of older prisoners. Figure 1: Representation of the prisoner end of life care pathway (NEoLP 2011) Step 1 Discussions as the end of life approaches Step 6 Care after death. Support for family Step 2 Assessment, care and planning review Social & spiritual care. Support for families, prisoners & carers Step 5 Care in the last days of life. Resuscitation wishes Step 3 Co ordination of care both strategic and individual Step 4 Delivery of high quality services in different settings Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 11

12 Local policies and initiatives In the absence of a national policy and before the introduction of the NHS guidelines in 2011, some prisons developed their own local policies and introduced a number of initiatives for older people. For example, HMP Downview, a women s prison, created a detailed policy for older offenders which is based on survey data as well as Department of Health and Prison Service policy. HMP Stafford provides a number of clinics specifically for older prisoners, such as twice weekly physiotherapy, an anxiety clinic and a prison-specific screening tool. The prison also provides a regular day club for retired prisoners. Age UK has helped to set up older prisoner forums in prisons since The forums are run by prisoners themselves and overseen by prison staff. The forums were set up in HMPs Channings Wood, Leyhill, Dartmoor, Hull and Gartree. Other forums are being developed at local prisons (e.g. HMPs Exeter and Bristol). There are other prisons that have developed new facilities and adapted their existing facilities to cater for the care needs of terminally ill and ageing prisoners. HMP Isle of Wight (Albany) holds a considerable number of older prisoners. The prison took part in the King s Fund Enhancing the Healing Environment Project 17 and, as part of the project, two bedrooms for end of life and respite care were purpose-built. Prisoners also helped to create an eco-friendly garden in the prison grounds. County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust have been working with prisons 18 in the North East region to develop the Macmillan Adopted Prison Standards (MAPS). MAPS is a set of 28 measurable standards and associated tools for delivering best practice end of life care in prison. The project has been running since 2010 and has secured funding until So far, 90 staff (prison and healthcare) have gained accredited training in palliative care. Each prison also has at least one palliative care champion. Prisoner information packs and a DVD have been developed to support on-going training. In conjunction with Teeside University, a prison diploma in palliative care has been developed. A palliative care register has been set up in every North East prison. When a prisoner is placed on the palliative care register (at the first point of a terminal diagnosis) this prompts a multidisciplinary team meeting made up of nurses, operational staff and a family liaison officer to ensure a holistic end of life care pathway is put in place. A working group from the North East Health Commissioning Unit is currently working with HMPs Frankland and Holme House to assess the feasibility of using a suitably trained registered nurse to verify an expected death in prison rather than calling a doctor or the emergency services to verify the death, as currently happens. HMP Whatton in Nottinghamshire has an older than average population with 60 per cent of prisoners over the age of 40 and a high rate of cancer. The prison has a senior nurse with specific responsibility to lead on palliative care and significant improvements have been made to the accommodation for terminally ill prisoners and their visitors. A grant from the NHS Offender Health Division through the King s Fund (Enhancing Healing Project) has financed a purpose-built end of life care suite attached to the healthcare centre. A room is also provided on a residential wing where families can visit their terminally ill relative if they are too ill to attend the visits hall. Macmillan Cancer Support and the North East Offender Commissioning Unit with the support of 12 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

13 2.3 Age and end of life care: now and what the future holds Although the prison population has risen dramatically in recent years, this has not been the same across all age groups. The proportions of all the age groups under 40 years have fallen, while all the age groups over 40 have increased (Table 1). People aged 60 and over are the fastest growing age group in the prison system (Figure 2). and currently make up four per cent of the total population. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of sentenced prisoners aged 60 and over Table 1: Prison population by age and increased by 142 per cent from 1,376 to 3,333. The actual number of year olds in prison has fallen by 903 in the same time period and is the only age group to do so. As the prison population ages, the number of deaths from chronic disease or simply old age is expected to rise. There is likely to be a corresponding increase in the number of cases where prisoners would benefit from planned end of life care. Age Number of prisoners Percentage of total Number of prisoners Percentage of total ,083 4% 1,180 1% ,154 11% 7,219 8% ,373 18% 13,882 16% ,869 19% 15,780 18% ,437 29% 23,310 27% ,058 12% 15,173 18% ,955 5% 6,580 8% 60 and over 1,376 2% 3,333 4% Total 57, % 86, % Figure 2: Percentage change in the age of the prison population between and Percentage of prisoners -150% -100% -50% 0% 50% 100% 150% Age and over Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 13

14 Various factors are contributing to the faster rise in the number of older prisoners. Conviction for historic offences (often sexual offences) which were committed sometimes decades ago has impacted on the age of prisoners when they first enter custody. Legislative changes have introduced longer custodial sentences, such as the introduction of mandatory life sentences for those convicted of a second serious sexual assault, and harsher sentencing policies for drug trafficking offences. In addition, those who were sentenced to indeterminate sentences (the proposed abolition of Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences will not be applied retrospectively) are not released until they can show they no longer pose a risk to others. These three factors mean that prisoners are older than previously when they first enter prison and/or are growing old in prison. This upward trend is likely to continue at an accelerated rate if the prison population increases to 95,000 by 2018 as projected 23. The increase in the number of older prisoners has been commented on by many practitioners and organisations, including the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman in his 2012 annual report 24. HMIP carried out a thematic review 25 in 2004 of older prisoners and published a follow up report 26 four years later. The follow up report found that healthcare provision for older prisoners and those receiving palliative care had improved during the four years. However, it also found that two of the healthcare recommendations had not been implemented: for every health service centre to have a lead nurse or manager who has responsibility for older prisoners, and for staff working with older prisoners to receive training in how to recognise signs of mental health problems. The follow up report repeated the recommendation (from 2004) for prisons to have a policy for identifying and meeting the needs of older prisoners, with a designated lead from the prison staff. on social care provision will hopefully address this neglect by the Prison Service and prisons will in future meet the social care needs of their prison population with a more holistic approach. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) rejected a recommendation made by HMIP in both reports to implement a national strategy for older and less able prisoners. NOMS did not accept that it was appropriate to manage prisoners on the basis of age, but instead insisted that this should be on the basis of individual need. This does not chime with Government policy which, in 2005, launched a national strategy for an ageing population 27. The strategy recognised the need to set out a coherent framework to ensure that all policies address the issues faced by older people. Despite this, survey data from HMIP 28 collected in prisons across the country in showed that prisoners aged 50 and over were the group most positive about their access to health services. Over two thirds found it easy to see the nurse and just under half found it easy to see a doctor. They are most likely to have reported that the quality of care they had received in prison was good or very good. They were also the group most likely to be taking some form of medication and be allowed to keep possession of it in their own cell. The 2008 HMIP report added a new recommendation: for prisons to ensure that the social care needs of the ageing prison population are identified and fully met. Social care has been identified as an area which is often neglected in prison. The 2008 follow up report found that the provision for social care was still largely seen as a healthcare issue rather than one for the prison as a whole. The introduction of the White Paper 14 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

15 3. End of life care in PPO investigations 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Demographic make up of the sample From January 2007 to October 2012 the PPO investigated 647 natural cause deaths in prison. These are deaths which are caused by an illness, for example lung cancer, heart disease or a respiratory disease such as pneumonia. This report focuses on those prisoners whose death was foreseeable due to the terminal and incurable nature of their illness and, for whom formal end of life care could have been appropriate. There were 214 prisoners in this sample whose death was foreseeable. The sample shows some differences to the prison population as a whole 29. The vast majority of the sample was male (97%) and only six were female; reflecting the fact that 95 per cent of the total prison population is male. There was a disproportionate number of deaths of white prisoners, with almost 90 per cent of the sample being white, even though black and minority ethnic prisoners represent a quarter of the total prison population. The sample data is based on 214 data collection forms which were completed by the PPO investigators during their investigations. The forms are split into 17 sections and cover most aspects of prison life. The investigator has access to the deceased prisoner s medical records, prison records (including security information reports) and can request any information they may need. They are also able to ask for an interview with any member of staff - both discipline and medical, and with serving prisoners, if they feel it will aid their investigation. The data collection forms allow some standardisation of the information collected during the investigations to enable cases to be compared, but not all information is available or recorded in all cases. One in ten of the sample was a foreign national prisoner. This is roughly the same as the total prison population where foreign nationals account for 13 per cent of the total prison population. Older prisoners (aged 60 and over) made up the majority of those who died of a terminal or incurable illness (Figure 3). The vast majority of the sample was aged 50 and over (80%). When the age groups were broken down, those aged made up over a quarter (30%). There were 11 prisoners aged 80 or over at the time of their death; the two oldest prisoners were aged 88 years old when they died. Figure 3: Disproportionality of age of sample compared to prison population in % 50% 40% 30% Sample deaths Total prison population % 10% 0% and over Age of prisoners Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 15

16 Nearly a third of the sample had a disability; the same proportion as in the general prison population. Of those in the sample who had a disability, around half had a disability related to their mobility. Other disabilities recorded included problems with sight and hearing. 3.3 Primary cause of death Neoplasms (chapter II: blocks c00-d44 32 ) cover all types of cancer, including leukaemia and unspecified cancers. As in the community, cancer is the most common cause of death in the sample. The most common type of cancer found in the sample (and the wider community) was lung cancer, which accounted for one in three (56) of the prisoners who died of cancer. The sample is based on cases where death was reasonably foreseeable. This includes both those who had a terminal diagnosis and those who had multiple conditions which individually may not have been terminal, but which in combination meant that the prisoner was unlikely to live much longer. The PPO categorises the types of deaths investigated according to the World Health Organisation Standard International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) 31. In cases where multiple conditions contributed to the death, only the primary cause of death as indicated by the death certificate is reported here. The cause of death in the majority of cases in the sample (71%) was cancer (Figure 4). The primary cause of death was circulatory disease in 11 per cent of all deaths and respiratory disease in nine per cent. Other infectious diseases, diseases of the nervous system and digestive diseases accounted for nine per cent of all deaths in the sample. Circulatory diseases (chapter IX: blocks ) cover a range of conditions, all relating to the supply of blood to and from the heart, brain and the rest of the circulatory system. Deaths can range from those due to cerebrovascular diseases (block ) such as from cerebrovascular accident (a stroke) to pulmonary diseases that affect blood supply to the lungs (block ). The most common forms of causes of death from a circulatory disease are those from ischaemic heart diseases, which often result in a heart attack. The primary cause of death in twenty three cases in the sample was heart disease. Ten in the sample died from a stroke or another type of circulatory disease. Respiratory diseases (chapter X: blocks j00- j99 34 ) cover a range of conditions, from influenza and pneumonia to respiratory infections and lung disease. The primary cause of death in twenty cases in the sample was a respiratory disease. Figure 4: Primary cause of foreseeable death (N=214) Respiratory disease, 20 Digestive disease, 7 Other, 12 Circulatory disease, 23 Cancer, Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

17 3.4 Type of establishment A very small number of female prisoners died of a terminal illness, reflecting the fact that women represent a very small proportion of the prison population. A disproportionate percentage of prisoners, compared to the prison population as a whole, were in a high security prison when they died (19% compared to 7%). Prisoners in the high security estate are likely to have longer sentences than those in the rest of the prison estate, being either lifers or others convicted of serious offences and regarded as a significant risk to the public. As a consequence, the high security estate holds a higher proportion of prisoners aged 50 years and over compared to the rest of the prison estate. Prisoners aged 50 years and over make up 20 per cent of the total high security population compared to only 12 per cent of the rest of the prison population. As these prisoners are in the establishments for a longer period of time than those in the remainder of the estate, one would expect there to be a higher occurrence of prisoners dying of terminal illness and old age in these locations. Prisoners held in the high security estate pose the greatest risk to the public, and pose the greatest risk if they escaped, so are given the highest security categorisations (category A or B). Categorisation is taken into consideration when assessing the prisoner for compassionate release or release on temporary licence (ROTL). Category A prisoners will automatically be excluded from applying for ROTL. 3.5 Location of death The majority of prisoners died in hospital (54%), more than a quarter died in prison (30%) and only 15 per cent died in a hospice. Of those who died in prison, the vast majority died in the healthcare centre (73%) and 17 prisoners died in their normal cell location. This broadly reflects what happens in the community for patients with cancer; the home death rate is low (23%), the hospital death rate is high (55%) and a small percentage of people die in a hospice (12%) or a nursing home (10%) 35. People in the community who die in hospital as opposed to at home are more likely to be socio-economically disadvantaged, elderly, have no carers or have a long-standing illness. Some prisoners do not want to be moved in the last stages of their life, and prefer to stay on the wing where they are surrounded by their friends, staff they know, and in an environment they are familiar with. There were examples of good practice in the sample where a small number of prisons had adapted prisoners cells on the wing to accommodate their palliative care needs. Other prisons had established palliative care beds in their healthcare centres which were specifically designed for the care of prisoners at the end of life. In the majority of cases where the data was collected, when special care needs had been identified for the prisoner, these had been accommodated by the prison (65%) 36. These included the prison providing a special bed or mattress, fitting an alarm cord and moving the prisoner to the ground floor to enable easier access to facilities. This highlights that it is not imperative for a prison to have a specialist end of life care wing/unit or cell to provide high quality palliative care. Prisons can provide a high level of care by ensuring their staff are well trained in palliative care, they have strong ties with their local hospital and hospice so they can access expert advice if needed. However, they will require the resources to adapt existing cells to cater for the care needs of prisoners at the end of their life. Of those prisoners who died in prison, it was recorded in at least 53 per cent of investigations that the prisoner s cell was open at all times to allow healthcare staff easy access to care for the prisoner. This is important in helping deliver an end of life care plan which follows one of the core functions of the NHS - allowing people to die in comfort and with dignity Themes Palliative care plan It was recorded in the majority of cases in the sample (69%) that the prisoner had a palliative care plan. Of those 147 cases, nearly all of the prisoners (91%) were involved in their care plan. In this type of approach to end of life care, planning and review are the first two stages in the six stage end of life care pathway set out in the National End of Life Care Programme guide for prisons. The first two stages are important steps to take for both the prison and prisoner in Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 17

18 setting out what the prisoner s needs and wishes might be for the coming months or days and how best to manage them. The third step of the end of life care pathway is to ensure co-ordination of care between the individuals and services that will be responsible for delivering and supporting the care plan. Coordination is important in any setting, but the prison estate provides extra challenges to care planning, such as making changes to a cell so a wheelchair can fit. Therefore, it is important that prisons are in regular contact with hospital or hospice staff to keep up to date with a prisoner s condition if they have been admitted. Prison staff should ensure that they are prepared for the prisoner s return from the hospital/hospice. Prison staff should co-ordinate transport and security arrangements for hospital visits and future referrals. The PPO had concerns in 16 per cent of cases about communication between the prison and hospital or hospice staff. There were also cases where test results were delayed, prisoners missed appointments due to misinformation, paperwork was lost between the hospital and prison and hospitals did not inform the prison of the severity of a prisoner s condition. Step four of the end of life care pathway is the delivery of high quality services in different settings. For prisoners, this can apply to delivery of services in the healthcare centre, in the prisoner s cell or in a hospital or hospice. Seventy five per cent of prisoners had appropriate equipment available to them in order to implement the care plan in a prison setting. In 11 cases, it was recorded that appropriate equipment was not provided to facilitate the prisoner s palliative care plan. This was mainly due to inadequacies in healthcare centres, lack of protocols to deliver end of life care and lack of equipment to deliver the Liverpool Care Pathway. In the majority of cases (85%), the care provided was found by the investigation, which includes a clinical review by a medical practitioner, to be equivalent to the level of care the prisoner could have expected to receive in the community. Recognition of the wishes of the prisoner about resuscitation in the event of a cardiac or respiratory arrest is included in step five of the end of life care pathway. Nearly half (99) prisoners had specified a Do Not Resuscitate order to be in place and in the majority of cases (89), staff were confident they would be able to respect the prisoner s wishes and implement the order. Step six of the care plan is care after death and the recognition that the care plan does not stop at the point of death. The care and support of relatives is covered in more detail in relation to family liaison later in this report. Case Study A: Absence of palliative care plan (Local Prison) Mr A was recalled to prison following a breach of his licence conditions. At the time of his death he was 72 years old and had poor mobility, walked with a stick and had difficulty breathing. At his first reception healthcare screening, Mr A was admitted to the inpatient healthcare unit. A care plan was put in place to monitor Mr A daily until his heart condition was stabilised. (He had previously had a stroke and had a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) an umbrella term used to describe chronic bronchitis, emphysema or both). Mr A was admitted to hospital for shortness of breath and was diagnosed with infective COPD. The hospital gave the prison a list of recommendations for his care on discharge which included a bed board and an extra pillow. When he returned to the prison, Mr A was moved to a single cell as he had an oxygen machine which was in constant use. He was offered the help of two prisoner orderlies to assist with tasks such as cleaning his cell and collecting his meals. The discharge summary from the hospital stated that as Mr A s condition was terminal, the hospital s palliative care team could help manage Mr A s end stage COPD. No evidence was found that a referral was made for Mr A to the palliative care team. Ten days later, Mr A was taken back to hospital in an ambulance with extreme difficulty breathing. Mr A s condition deteriorated and hospital staff attempted to resuscitate him. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful and Mr A died twenty minutes later. 18 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

19 Case Study B: Good practice palliative care plan (High Security Prison) Mr B was serving an 11 year prison sentence and was 81 years old when he died. At the time of his arrival in prison, Mr B suffered from Type 2 diabetes, angina, lung disease, chronic kidney disease and coronary heart disease. Mr B was slightly deaf and used a hearing aid. Mr B had only one fully functioning kidney and over two years before his death, he was fitted with a permanent catheter. Mr B was admitted to hospital with a urinary infection and breathing difficulties. He was very ill and a subsequent chest X-ray showed he had a mass on his lung. Mr B did not want any further investigations or tests to assist diagnosis of the mass on his lung. Following Mr B s discharge from hospital, he discussed his decision to put in place a Do Not Resuscitate order with a hospital doctor. The monitoring and care of Mr B after his discharge from hospital and decision not to have further treatment was supported by prison healthcare staff. After he was discharged from hospital, Mr B moved to the palliative care suite (a cell specially designed for the needs of end of life care prisoners) in the prison s healthcare centre. Although Mr B did not have any further investigations into the mass on his lung, the (presumed) terminal nature of the tumour meant a palliative care plan was put in place and followed until his death. The care plan used two nationally recognised pathways; the Liverpool Care Pathway and the Gold Standards Framework. Other measures were taken to ensure Mr B was as comfortable as he could be in the last stages of his life. He was visited in prison by a Macmillan cancer palliative care nurse, and during the last few days of his life his cell door was left open and he had frequent visits from staff and fellow prisoners Restraints The PPO has frequently identified the inappropriate use of restraints on prisoners who are at the end of their life as an area of concern 38, most recently in a Learning Lessons Bulletin 39. These concerns are again highlighted in the cases identified in this sample. When prisoners have to travel outside of the prison to a hospital or hospice, a risk assessment is conducted to determine the nature and level of any security arrangements, including any restraints. This should consider the probable harm the prisoner poses to the public or to specific individuals in the event of an escape, alongside their motivation and ability both physical and in terms of outside resources to escape. In 20 cases out of 170 cases where restraints were considered, no risk assessment was carried out for the use of restraints. Advice for prisons is outlined in the National Security Framework, (NSF) and in the Prisoner Escort and Bedwatch Function, a concordat between NOMS and the NHS. The concordat notes that (following a High Court ruling 40 ) using restraints on terminally or seriously ill patients should be considered inhumane except when justified by security considerations. It goes on to say: Levels of restraint used on prisoners must at all times be proportionate to the perceived security risks and be balanced by consideration of care and decency for the prisoner. NOMS is currently developing the guidance into a new Prison Service Instruction. In at least 28 cases, the PPO identified specific concerns about security and escort arrangements when the prisoner was in hospital or a hospice. The concerns mainly related to the excessive use of restraints compared to the level of risk posed by the prisoner. In one case, a prisoner was restrained while in a coma. In another case the prisoner died while still handcuffed to a prison officer. In case study B of this report, Mr B was restrained by an escort chain in hospital (a length of chain with a handcuff at each end attached to the prisoner and an officer). Although the restraints were eventually taken off, this was only when they had begun to restrict Mr B s circulation. There was no evidence that he was at risk of escaping and while he had committed serious offences, these had occurred over 30 years ago. The Ombudsman considered the presence of two prison officers was more than adequate to escort a very ill, 81 year old man in a wheelchair. In 16 cases in the sample, restraints were not removed until just 24 hours or less before the prisoner s death. Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care 19

20 The Ombudsman identified that the level of restraint was inappropriate in at least 18 cases when the prisoner was under escort to a hospital or hospice, in at least 32 cases while in hospital or a hospice and in at least 21 cases when a prisoner was restrained during treatment. As stated in the National Security Framework and the concordat, the level and use of restraints should be reviewed regularly. This was found to have been the practice in the majority of cases, but 30 prisoners out of the sample of 158 who were restrained at some point, did not have their level of restraint reviewed or adjusted. There are examples where working arrangements have been made which have successfully balanced the palliative care needs of the prisoner with the level of risk they pose and Case Study C: Use of restraints (Training Prison) the restraints which are used. Marie Curie Cancer Care and County Durham PCT 41 have worked closely with staff at the Durham prisons cluster to develop local guidelines which enable high security prisoners to be transferred to the hospice in Newcastle for end of life care, if they choose to be moved there. Hospice staff imposed a number of conditions on the Prison Service while the prisoners were in their care. Specifically prisoners were not to be handcuffed to prison officers while they were in the hospice. Also prison officers were to wear civilian clothes as opposed to their uniforms, so as not to draw attention to the prisoners or intimidate other hospice residents. This example shows that best quality end of life care can be provided to prisoners in a dignified and humane manner, while not compromising the security risk the individual may pose. Mr C was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. He was 66 years old at the time of his death. Mr C informed prison staff when he arrived at the prison that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given, at most, six months to live. He was immediately admitted to the prison s healthcare centre. Mr C attended a pre-existing hospital appointment at which his consultant informed him and the prison healthcare team that his condition had significantly deteriorated. His cancer had spread and he was unlikely to live more than a few weeks. Mr C was very frail and had lost a lot of weight, weighing only five stone when he was in prison. A palliative care plan was put in place and the prison doctor was in contact with a local hospice to arrange an admission. Two months after Mr C arrived in prison his condition deteriorated further and he agreed to be transferred to the local hospice. A risk assessment was completed when Mr C was escorted to the hospice from prison. This said he presented a medium risk to the public and of escape, but no explanation was given to support this assessment and the medical information section of the form was not completed. Two prison officers escorted Mr C and he was handcuffed to an officer. Two officers remained with Mr C at the hospice and he was cuffed (by escort chain) to an officer at all times - apart from when he needed to bathe. The weight of the chain on Mr C s frail skin caused him to bleed and bandages had to be applied to stop the chain from rubbing. The restraints were removed when Mr C s condition deteriorated. He died 36 hours later. Mr C was a very sick man whose death was imminent. His physical capacity and the risk that he posed at the time do not appear to have been taken into account in the risk assessment. The Ombudsman was concerned that a recommendation had been made to the prison a year earlier about the use of restraints in a similar case, but did not appear to have affected the way Mr C s escort was handled. 20 Learning from PPO investigations: End of life care

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